Jackson using Covid-19 relief funds to revive historic building
JACKSON, Mich. (WILX) – As communities across Mid-Michigan use Covid-19 relief funds to recover from the pandemic, one community has decided to revive a piece of its history.
The City of Jackson plans to use $2.5 million in Covid-19 relief funds to turn the historic Masonic Temple into a community kitchen.
If the building’s brick walls could talk they’d share over centuries worth of stories. For years, the building was a lively gathering hub, serving as a Masonic Temple and once serving as a furniture store. However, in recent years it’s sat empty for the most part.
Aaron Dimick, the city’s spokesperson, says rather than tear it down, the city came up with a better plan.
The unfortunate thing about taking down historic structures is once it is gone you can never get it back. And this is a building that was made to be a public resource for the community to use.” said Dimick.
The City Council of Jackson voted to put their Covid-19 relief funds back into creating a community kitchen and job training center. These funds were made available to communities like Jackson to help them recover from the pandemic.
“There’s a huge community benefit from something like this- people are going to be able to grow their business and you know to leave the kitchen and start their own business- grow to hire more people and that means more tax revenue and people working,” said Dimick.
The plans call for renovating the ground floor into the community kitchen. The first floor will be used as a community event space. People will be able to use the space to work and make their products.
Right now, there is no timeline of when construction will start for the building.
Copyright 2022 WILX. All rights reserved.
Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning.
